Chuck It

I got a chance to watch NBC's new spy "dramedy" show Chuck last night. Well, I wish I could I say I watched the whole thing, but I could only stand it for about 20 minutes. If you aren't aware of the premise, the story follows Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, pictured middle), a geeky yet oddly attractive guy who unwittingly receives an e-mail from his ex-roommate-turned-CIA-operative that contains loads of secret government information. Naturally, a dozen U.S. agencies want the information retrieved, so they send out Major John Casey and Agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski, pictured left) to do the job.

What really bugged me about this show was how long it took for an actual story to develop. I understand with pilots a lot of setting up is necessary to start the series, but this took way too long. I was waiting for a plot for 20 minutes and never got one. Also, NBC has really been pushing for this as a "dramedy", but the "comedy" part of that never really surfaces. The stereotype of the geek that is socially awkard yet is somewhat-attractive has been done so many times that it begs for redevelopment. Unfortunately, Levi delivers more of the same, although I do feel like he was given little to work with. I would love to see him in something else as I do find him to have some sort of strange appeal. My friends at work tell me that he is-- in fact-- a new hot commodity in Hollywood. But until he finds a better role, I recommend skipping out on Chuck.